innovation playground Idris Mootee

The Economics of Co-Creation. Can What Happened To Microbrewery Happens To The Auto Industry?

A lot of talk and interest around the concept of co-creation. It is no question that this is going to have asting implications of how products and experiences are designed, developed and marketed. In 3-5 years, customer co-creation will be the part the norm of everyday business. Much like early days of ecommerce when people struggled with the legal, technical, operational issues. Slowly these issues will work their way out and we would look back and say “that’s simple…. makes perfect sese.”

What’s a great example of co-creation? Let’s first try to define it here as sometimes people refers it to anything from idea crowd-sourcing to technical expert groups to simple product/service/marketing customization. One good example of real co-creation is a company called Loco Motor.

I met Jay Rogers (founder and CEO) at the PDMA Co-creation Conference when I was moderating a panel. He was hosting the event and I was extremely impressed with what he is trying to do and has achieved to date. It is the first co-creative automobile design and purchase experience in the world. Just as the auto industry is dying for new ideas and change and Detroit needs a new strategy and it is more than making a better car. There are many structural issues to deal with and it is complicated. Jay is attempting to disrupt the auto industry by using co-creation as the strategic core.

The people in the car industry that have tried to innovate in the last 100 years and mostly fail, what makes him think he has a chance? Perhaps Detroit should concentrate on redesigning the business model and the whole experience before redesigning cars.

The first product Rally Fighter sells for just under $60,000. It’s an incredible car that looks like a life size HotWheel and gives me fond memory of my childhood. Remember the Hot Wheels yellow track?

The Rally Fighter is designed by the online community and ismanufacture at the microfactory in Phoenix, Arizona with a sustainable and highly efficient process. Jay wanted to build cars all his life, after raising $10 million seed capital, he launched the company with a simple idea that is extremely difficult to pull off. Loco Motors hosts a passionate online group of car-lovers or fanatics who compete to design vehicles for some regional communities in contests that run about once a month. The winning designs is then produced and sold to the communities.

There is more than to the flexible and customizable micro-factory, the concept here is when you give people tools, a strong community network with shared passion, some inspiration, small incentive you are in game. In fact, he is reinventing the customer co-creation experience for automotive. There are more than needs to be done in order to reinvent the economics of the industry. I think every business should look at Loco Motots and see what is relevant for their industries.

Will Loco Motors remains to be a niche business or eventually springing into a platform that supports a auto-cottage industries I don’t know. But we also need to think how we reduce traffic including rethinking local supplies network for certain products and cutting down unnecessary traffic.

An example is to look at how we replace pizza or UPS delivery with perhaps flying delivery drones – pizza right through to your windows. I am not sure if someone has thought about flying delivery drones man by 14 year old part-time students that doesn’t even have a driving license. The military drones can be converted to do the job. It is more realistic than flying personal transport, because in the event of an accident the worst is you don’t get your pizza. May be this is another idea of Jay, his Marine Corps background can be very useful. A central drone delivery operations theater that supports the nation’s takeout industry.

The Next Time You Pick Up The Phone To Call A Customer Service Agent You Might End Up Talking To An Inmate In Tijar, India.

Global customer servicing outsourcing is touching us everyday and sometimes you don’t know who you’re talking to on the phone or online when you call your service provider. I have had good experiences as well bad ones and the business case for companies are obvious and the continuous drive for lower costs are pushing companies to be creative and look for emerging destinations beyond the popular candidates such as India and Philiphines despite their relative advantage in English proficiency.

India is trying to move up the food chain and trying to provide higher value outsourcing jobs while in the Philippines, but moreover in Malaysia, Thailand and increasingly Vietnam and Indonesia, all want a piece of the still gorwing pie. We are seeing some anti-outsourcing sentiment due to the high unemployment rate at home recede to historical norms. The cost saving justification needs to be significant these days but it is not easy as the standard of living in India and Vietnam are quickly rising. That’s when you need to be creative.

Now they are doing a pilot program in India recruiting inmates with some good IT skills to try them doing basic data entry, customer service and support. They need to start with changing the policy of allowing Internet access in prisons. Those who participate will get paid more than what they could earn doing other jobs in the prisons. This is still at pilot stage and I wonder how they will select the people to participate beyond their skills, will they have to say something like “Sir, before we continue on, I’d like you to know that I am special customer service agent and a convict and previously robbed and bank and shot the manager. I need to confirm that you would like to continue on to allow me to help you with your banking transaction here?”

According to Gopinath Reddy, director general of prisons in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, he told the Guardian in the UK that inmates' knowledge should be used for the benefit of "the nation." The pressure to lower cost and perceptions of lowering capital investment make outsourcing an almost irresistible impulse for service businesses and manufacturers. Global access to vendors, falling interaction costs, and improved information technologies and communications links are giving companies unprecedented choice in designing their operations. Theses strategies are too easy for many taking an extra few cents out but it is time to rethink outsourcing. We need the jobs back and let’s talk smartsourcing. The next outsourcing RFPs will go to top prisons in the US, India and Philipphines to competete against each other perhaps. That's innovation.

Art Is Like Viagra For Science. Art And Science Complement Each Other In All Forms Of Sense-Making. The Magic Formula For Innovation.

“If you’ve never been lost you’ll never end up getting anywhere new”. That was a great opening line when Dan Widen tried to sum up his observations on day one of the event. It was the first time I met him in person and I must say I really like him. Not only of his achievement but his personal style of reflections. Also met with his colleague John Jay, also a great guy and honestly I was a little surprised to see them at the event, a nice surprise. I was expecting to meet with only scientists, artists and policy makers.

The STEM to STEAM workshop was hosted by RISD and funded by the National Science Foundation, the idea is to bring together thought leaders to come together to develop strategies for enhancing STEM education through the integration of Art and Design thinking. "STEM to STEAM pedagogy integrates a broad range of learning methods and learning ecologies from the empirical studies in the science lab, constructive critique in the design studio and creative discoveries in informal learning settings," according to Dr. Pamela L. Jennings, Program Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation. "Creativity and rigor are rewarded and STEM learning in formal and informal settings is transformed from 'we have to learn' to 'we want to learn'."

On my flight home, I was thinking, what is the difference between an artist and a scientist? Or the artistic process and scientific progress? This was the closing discussion we’re having on the second day of STEAM. It is never easy to have scientists and artists (I don’t know which group I belong to, I am a management scientist and an artist) sitting together to talk about the integration of art and science. There is no question that there were differences in opinions in terms of what’s the definition of an artist?

The commonalities seems to be that both requires extreme curiosity, certain expertise, experimentation and ability to deal with unknowns, and using various methods of inquiries etc. And the key differences the science progress requires validation and repeatability (other wise it is not a science experiment). On the other hand art can often be done as a one off. Art is more process oriented and science has more consideration for the outcome or goal-oriented (there are also a lot of science research that I don’t know what they’re trying to achieve). The process (may be process is not the right word) of art requires artists to deploy observational skill which allows them to see beyond the surface, recognize what the eye sees and interpreting them as they see it, and constantly experimenting with organizing colors, textures, patterns, shapes, space and form.

Artist is best in asking question and sometimes these questions seem to be irrelevant they are trying to make a point. And when art is applied in science, it is becoming part of the scientific process, it is a powerful subjective aid in enriching the objective world of scientific evidence. But when science is applied in art, suddenly it has become the “rapid prototyping of truth.” Instead of algebra equations and statistical charts or applying Multivariate Statistical Process Control when several related variables are of interest are collectively known, we can make a powerful piece of visual that brings all the data together added with a subjective richness to help viewers to see things otherwise they may not see. Art is like Viagra for science (or even for scientists) to help them to keep up with the crazy world out there.

Another interesting idea is for several decades, investigations into consciousness has always been a muddy area in the scientific community. Artists and designers have always believed that art can impact our phenomenological experience of the world - via our central nervous system - through artistic stimuli, which thrill, question and captivate, for centuries. The sensations from art, whether it comes from an art installation, a painting or a digital simulation can help us to experience the immediacy of the things happing (whether it is 50 years ago or now around us) and provide a truly phenomenological experience of our world. And thereby open a T1 connection into our consciousness.

I know a scientist/artist that uses her knowledge gained in biology to explore relationships between cellular form and function and she was showing people amazing visuals of how the double helix structure is telling us what makes us who we are – an example of science meets arts. When art infuses into science opens up possibilities for artists that have the scientific knowhow to use scientific knowledge to create works of art.

I must say I very much enjoyed the event and I had the opportunity to meet with lots of scientists and artists and a lot of great discussions about the value of crossing over. Art and science provide a complementary way of making sense of the every increasing complex challenge around us, it allows data to have emotion and help us to see (and sense) the past and future. A healthy dose of subjective enlightment can give scientific knowledge a richness and depth beyond that which our senses can perceive. They complement each other in sense-making which is really the comprehension of meanings, and projection of our future. And science cannot do it alone without art.

You Can Criticize South Koreans For The Lack Of Creativity, But You Cannot Criticize Their Hospitality. I Think They Beat The Japanese.

Seoul is really a surprisingly friendly place. It was a surprise even for me as I am so used to different hospitable culture. Despite the city is a little too much concrete and dull, the younger generations of Koreans are bringing life to the city. They are different from the Shinsedae (means new generation in Korea in the 80s) who are now older, the current generation of young people is technologically savvy, heavily immersed in consumption both material and cultural and they are the first generation who have the opportunity to travel abroad for visit or study with the liberalization of overseas travel and the advent of an era of information and communications. Funny after the first day of meeting till 7pm started right when I arrived the afternoon, my Korean friends conmplained the next day they were tired and I worked them too hard. Funny coming from a Korean.

I think the Korean hospitality is worth a mention, here are my three stories happened the last few days. Despite the language barrier, people went all the way to help me as a foreigner. There is something about Korean hospitality that is little known.

I was looking for the location of University of Seoul and I went into a tailor shop to ask for direction, he didn’t understand what I was saying so he bought me to another tailor shop (custom made suit) and the guy called another person to the store. After 5 minutes of Korean conversation (no idea what they were saying), he picked up the phone and then there was a male voice speaking English on the other side. I told him where I was going and next thing was, the tailor shop owner closed the shop and walked 30 minutes to show me where the school is. I felt bad he actually had to walk that far to show me the place. He was probably around 45, and didn’t speak a word of English.

Then the next day I was looking for this tiny place that I was supposed to meet my friends after they’re done with the G20, no taxi driver can find it even with detail address. I stopped and asked 2 young guys on the street, they pulled out their iPhones and then looked it up for me, didn’t get it as I might not have the English spelling of the street right, then he stopped another two girls on the street, in 5 minutes I have 4 people searching on their iPhones to help me to locate the place. Not sure you will get the same service in a 5 stars hotel in the US or Europe. So when you travel to Seoul, there is no need to bring a map. These young people can communicate in English and all equipped with smart phones to help. Anything you need they have a widget for it.

Yesterday, The third one is I was having a quick lunch in a small Italian place before rushing to a meeting, there was a song playing in the restaurant that I really like. So I asked the waiter who’s the singer. Two minutes later the chef came out and turned on an app in his iPhone, he said it listened and then searched for the artist name. Didn’t work for the first time, then he bought out another person with the same app and tried again near the speakers, it worked this time. The hospitality is not trained, it is truly authentic. He is not a hotel concierge he is the chef.

I feel there is no distance between them and me even there is a language barrier. I have never experienced that level of authentic and sincere hospitality. And yes, they even give out free hugs. I didn't experience thta as I was in a rush, next time. Also, I'd prefer to have a few girls to chose from. This is no Thailand or Japan where everyone is polite and smiles at you. They did that because you’re a tourist or a customer or because they were taught to be polite, this is not the case. The only disappointment is taxi drivers usually don’t speak any English and don’t know the city well. In London, they know the city inside out, but not here. I don’t know why Samsung or LG can easily solve this problem, a voice based language translator in every taxi. Type in the text on your mobile phone and it will be translated and broadcasted to the taxi’s radio.

But in generally, there is still a deep-rooted conservatism in the Korean culture, even for the young people. The government is doing everything they can to encourage creativity and entrepreneurialism, with some success, but still a long way to go.

When Obama praised the Korean education system came as a surprise to many South Koreans at that time as the country's education system has been under intensed public criticism due to its lack of creativity and heavy dependence on private tutoring. In fact, very common among Asia. Keep in mind that Western social and political values such as democracy, individualism, the equality of the sexes, and national self-determination were only introduced by late 19th century Korean reformers and foreign missionaries, who made profound, affect upon the development of Korean education and cultural values. These concepts have played an increasingly prominent role in South Korean life the last few decades. Have talked to more a half dozen of local design professionals to get a sense of their views on design and art and the changing Korean culture, that’s a next post. Need to catch my flight.

Maison Moschino Milano - Il Mio Tipo Di Hotel! The Boutique Hotel Craps From Big Chains Are Bascially 4 Stars Fast Food.

Boutique hotel is my thing, it is not about being cool or be seen, I’ve passed that stage and it is not about the brand. Do I care if it is W or X or Y? I am sick of staying at the Sheraton or Marriot of the world, it is not only depressing, it reminds me that I am another those global travelers without a life. Although that’s not quite the case. I travel around the world for a reason, a good one. It is my job. And I am a byproduct of globalization. With a handful of passports, hotel loyalty cards and Facebook contacts (used to be Roladex), I am at home anywhere in the world.

I like boutique hotels because it reminds me that life can be special, there is more to it. It is about reflecting individual’s style, it is about efficiencies and it is about design. For me, I have a handful of favorites but ACE is on my top ten lists, Morgan’s is nice. I am definitely add Moschino Milano to the list. And that’s where I am staying this week. Maison Moschino is located in the old neoclassical railway station on Viale Monte Grappa. The four (or five?)story building has 54 and a few suites each with its own unique look. Rossella Jardini and the Moschino creatives designed the space themselves with whimsical fairy-tale rooms like the petal bedroom shown at right. I think there are 16 styles of rooms (vs. one in Sheraton or Marriot) My favorite is the box room.

The next one for me to check out will be the Christian Lacroix hotel. I love the flouncy and bright fashion style, the Hotel du Petit Moulin is in the Marais district of Paris. Lacroix has decorated each of the boutique hotel's 17 rooms . differently mixing various time periods and styles in riotous combination. Toile on one wall, a space mural on the next, a lipstick red bathroom and liberal use of color is cool. It is the opposite of the minimalist style which I still like.

And for London, I don’t stay in hotel there (since I usually stay with family) so no luck to taste the best in boutique hotels. The one that I really want to try is 40 winks. It is a great idea by interior designer David Carter. It is a great place for magazine photograhy. Carter is now offering his two spare bedrooms to paying guests on a B&B basis. Yes two rooms and no TVs. Carter is also happy to arrange visits from beauty therapists and reflexologists for those in need. If I am living in London, that’s probably what I would do two, rent out two rooms and one is D-school room and the other is you-know-what, B-school room. The dining room is where D-school meets B-school. I can arrange visits from organizational psychologists and behavioral economists for those in need.

Honestly, I have enough of the boutique craps from the big chains, they are still better than their main stream brands. Those are killing the minute I walk into a lobby. They are like 3 stars fast food chain that offers a bed too. Another big problems are the fact that all hotels seem identical, few incorporating local features or better to say local flavors.

There Is Texting For Business, Texting For Emergency, Texting For Health, Texting For Love And Texting For Seduction. We Have Yet To Understand The Effects Of Excessive Texting Impacting Our Communications And Realtionships.

San Francisco weather is perfect this week, yes unusual for late Sept. Exhasuted but a lot of things get done. Will be spending a lot of time here.

I realize I am texting more these days as it is faster and easier. Texting is one of our everyday activities, for the younger generation, it is the primary method to stay connect with friends. I have seen a couple texting each other even when they are in the in same house. And some text while they drive, eat and even in an intimate situation. Imagine that?

It is also becoming a common tool for business as customer services. Airline texts me update on flight status and that makes sense, as it is time sensitive. One significant strength of text messaging is its ability to remain unintrusive, particular we are in meetings or on conference calls.

A company called StartTalking is making texting easer by allowing you translate talk to text. You just talk to it, and have it send what you say as a text. Likewise, when someone sends you a message, it will read it out. Is that a good idea? Are we turning text into phone calls? The thing is free of charge and once installed on your Android phone (and available soon for the iPhone and BlackBerry), it works quietly in the background and listens for voice prompts in order to activate.

The two prompts that are coming in this first iteration of the product are "computer" and "operator," though in future versions you'll be able to program in whatever word you want. It's as simple as saying "operator: text message for (insert name of the name of the receiver)." It confirms you want to send a message to that person, and then you just begin speaking. When you're done talking, it runs that speech through conversion, and plays it back for you.  Works like a voice mail. But other than when I am driving, it is defeating the purpose of texting. People do it most in classes and meetings when they can't talk.

Texting is actually an interesting behavior that is affecting many aspect of our life. There is texting for customer service, texting for emergency, texting for socail causes, texting for security and testing for seduction. It is now ubiquitous in our society. Think about the future of seduction and flirting, texting will be a perfect medium. Just add location based capability and a people matching algorithm.

I can see a bestseller book titled “100 Proven Techniques - Texting to Attract And Seduce?” Think about it, all it takes is one single funny text to makes one laugh and remember you. There is a whole new set of techniques in how often, what style, what teaser, when and that becomes your brand. You can't over do it, too much texting is bad. It is sort of like direct marketing, and sometimes you need a call for action. What we are looking at here is to tantalize and tease her/him. Bring out your brand personality and always leave her/him wanting more. Texting is a great seduction tool if you know the right techniques.

It is easy to envision using texting to engage audience in entertainment, particularly terrestrial radio to interact with live programs, a new revenue stream too. Local politicians can use this to drive engagement with constituents since people can use it to send complains to their local councilors as most would not write a letter and make a phone call after the event.

Here is an innovative idea. You can build a business with this overnight. Starting a SMS–based training services. Whether it is for improving your general social skills, seduction skills, customer service skills, negotiation, self-improvement and even language skills etc. Or an SMS-based MBA? Anytime and anywhere. For $10 a month, you can learn new skills anywhere and anytime you want. And each session can be 5 min while you wait for your burger or 30 min while you wait for your flight to take off. I can come up with a list of 50 ideas to offer. May be this our next start-up incubation idea?

What Blockbuster Should Be Watching Now? "Repo Man"? “Die Hard 4" ? May Be Just “A Series of Unfortunate Events”?

It is nice and sunny in SF. have 18 people to interview and 2 other business meetings. So Blockbuster is finally I have been expecting this for 6-7 years and it finally happened - Blockbuster filed for chapter 11. No surprise for many and it doesn’t take a business strategist to tell you no one is driving to a store and rent a DVD. It will cost about 20 shares of Blockbuster to rent one DVD if you do have the share certificates. If you return late you have to provide another 5 shares. May be you will never have any opportunity to return it at all, because the stores closed.

At least they tried to accelerate the death process. How?  An obsolete business model renting DVDs orchestrated an unsolicited $1 billion bid for then a near dealth computer and electronics retail chain. Blockbuster went after Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City in December 2007. There is no benefit of two dying together, other than savings on funeral cost.

How about movie downloading? Yes, they wee talking about a special movie download kiosk that can be placed in stores. But why do you have to go to a store to download? Something is very wrong here. These Blockbuster executives were not sleeping on the wheels, it was not the case that they didn’t see the threats or not acting at all, so what went wrong?

Their business model was under attack by technology innovation as well as low cost competition. $1 a DVD at Redbox or download it somewhere. Yes you can download popcorn, but you can stock a big box at home from Costco. Blockbuster did match its competitors and launched mail-order, Internet, kiosk, and cable distribution, that was a smart move but only when you have their overheads. Your competition did not have the legacies of carrying those hefty retail and operating expenses. Strategic assets suddenly became strategic liability. Cost wise, Blockbuster paid out on average 35-40%of its revenue to Hollywood and Netflix paid under 25% of revenue and Redbox paid even less 20%. How do you compete with them? That’s typical the challenge with established players.

Blockbuster acquired movie download service Movielink a while back, I am guessing it costs them south of 30 mil. Not bad since more than $100 mil was sunk into the company from some big studios building the company, so it was a bargain. Well, depends how you look at it. Movielink has a very broad library of movies, but heavily DRM’ed and the prices were not competitive.

Not only Blockbuster is underthreat, even cable and broadband companies that offer movies are not better. Consumers are all thinking and talking about cutting-the-cord with Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV are pushing forward closer.

And for many young people, their laptop is their set up box. And the iPads of the world? That $65 to $100 monthly cable bill is looking less and less attractive to many, when Netflix mails discs and streams movies all for $9 a month. Cord-cutting is real and will accelerate particular for the 20-30 year old segments.

What’s the next episode for Blockbuster? The company hopes it can re-emerge a more streamlined entity capable of competing in a digital world. I don’t think they can just copy Netflix, they have to play a “new game” and do what Netflex did to them. Amazon, Google, Apple and some start-ups are all going to offer IP TV and not questions it's going to become ubiquitous. There will be plenty of shareholder value being created and destroyed. Ready for more innovation?

It Is Time That Google Needs A Reset. Now Facebook Places. Next Facebook Faces. Then Facebook Realtime Mobile Directory?

Here's Simon and Ashley as part of a team working on a social strategy for a very cool company. Part of the mission is to look at their competition and coopetition. In the world of business strategy and competition, friends can become enemies overnight. Google is definitely not happy with the idea that Facebook is sitting with 500 million users with 50% very active. What can they do?

Back in 2002, Google was competing with Overture and other search engine for shares. Overture was the search leader and was mining 3.2 billion pages, roughly 70 mm more pages than Google. Shortly Google climbed to 3.3 billion pages and continued to extend the gap. Soon after Overture bought the Web search assets of AltaVista and Fast Search and Transfer (including AlltheWeb), to compete with Google head on.. and the battle began...

Google won AOL business away from Overture; and Overture won Freeserve away from Google. We will be seeing the same battle all over again when this time Facebook is the rivalry? Google is the place to find anything and that is extending to places with Google Map and Street Views. “Local” is still hole in the Google world. Facebook Places is an innovation to fill that hole with a social-media twist. Facebook users can now "check in" to an existing list of nearby locations from their mobile phones or add new listings themselves, sharing that activity with their friends.

Facebook will potential become a platform for local business search listings, the same strategy that Google, Yelp, Foursquare, Gowalla, and a few others that are fighting to get local advertising dollars. Facebook Places is the latest example of how information access is empowering new behavior.

We don’t know if these behavior will become mainstream. It is not difficult to imagine that I will be able to use my Facebook app on my mobile device to find local business. I won’t have to open my laptop and Google a restaurant if I can just use my mobile device, with added comments and suggestions from my social networks. Facebook's decision to add location data to its product instanly creates a Google-scale competitor overnight. With so many businesses already have Facebook pages, it is easy to pay and extend that into Facebook local search. So pages + places = Yellow Pages + instance update on products + prices right in your pocket.

Today, 100 million people a month are using Google's Maps for Mobile product but it doesn’t mean much in terms of barriers for entry, at least not for Facebook. Google knows very little about me other than what I search but Facebook knows my friends, communities and what I am passionate about. Google needs a reset. Buy FB stock if it goes IPO.

Emotion Detection Technology Will Become Mainstream. You Can Decide Not To Pick Up The Phone When Your Boss Is Angry.

The financial crisis has pretty much stalled all start-up investment activities but now there are signs that they are slowing coming back. Among a few cool companies on the radar is Exaudios. It is the equivalent of a lie detector but works more like an emotional detector. They can analyze the intonation of someone’s voice when they call you on your cell to see if he or she is calm, stressed out, cheerful or simply angry. They claim that it is up to 80% accuracy. I have been playing with the idea for a while and I think they have solved some of the key technical challenges.

Their strategy is to sell this to call centers but I am not sure why, I guess when an angry customer call then they can  switch to an automated response and when a happy voice call they forward the call to the sales center to cross sell you cable channel package or whatever. I am trying to think of other applications potential, but then any human can sense that if the other person is happy or upset, why do we need this? Only if they can apply this with different offerings and test you response. I don’t think it makes sense for call center at all, because most people are pissed anyway that they have to call for support. Everything can be done on the web, and if they have to call, they have reasons to be unhappy.

I think most call center people knew I was unhappy when I called, I didn’t think they were empowered to do anything. They weren’t allowed to give you a name to escalate. And sometimes people don’t care, why would that person three thousand miles away sitting in a five hundred people call center cared about your emotions? There is not much they can do anyway.

The only thing I think it would work is when a customer starts yelling, the system will detect it and the call will be redirected and jointly handle by a senior person, that way you can yell at two persons instead of one. Or there are special units that are good defusing angry customers, call them ‘negotiators’. The intonation analysis software can also correlate with physical conditions.  I still don't think call center is the right application although they think that's where the money is.

The company also sells a solution for HR. It is SaaS application that allows organization to determine the emotional attitude of a candidate towards a specific job, providing an insight into the personality of a candidate and suitability for a specific job. I am not sure how it works. Everyone can sound happy during a job interview. They also claim that the solution predict the likelihood of employees to work together as a team. That’s a stretch and you have to convince me. But I do think this technology has potential, but not the applications they have in mind. I have a few in my mind.

I Am Happy WIth My IPad Mini So There Are No Reasons Why I Won't Like My iPad. Just Add A Camera.

Some are comparing iPad to Netbooks, but it is not a fair comparison. I don’t like Netbooks myself, I used to have one 14 years ago made by Sony, it was a very powerful mini notebook with a built-in camera (a first at that time). It costs me $2,300 when I purchased that from a now bankrupted computer store chain in San Hose. It was a good one except keyboard was too small and battery life short. According to the guy at a local Best Buy store, 8 out of 10 Netbooks sold got returned. I am sure that’s not the case in Asia. I think many people have wrong expectations and not aware of the limitations of Netbooks.

There was one kid working at Best Buy asked me if I like the ITouch Jumbo, he was referring to iPad. I said I like the IPad mini (iTouch) that I have now, so I think I will like the iPad. The only disappointment for me is the lack of a camera, because I think if I carry that all the time and being able to use Skype is great plus. It doesn’t add much to the cost. The camera needs to be in the front obviously. It is still a little heavy; adding 11.5 lbs to my Louis Vuitton briefcase is pushing it. No video output is a negative; the other Lenovo Ideapad I bought has a HDMI output. The Lenovo tablet will be out soon and Brother (pic below) has a robust design for business use, not sure about the Brother brand name. Should rebrand this tablet to "iBro". Even with many criticisms, iPad will be an instant success. It is not a Newton I can guaranteed you.

IPad preorders are pouring in. Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board (subscription needed) noted that iPad pre-orders dropped from an estimated 25,000 per hour on Friday, the first day of availability, to around 1,000 per hour over the weekend. For the three-day period, the cumulative total was estimated at 152,000. That’s pretty good.

I think iPad will open up opportunities for print media and help shape portable media experiences. I can’t read magazines from my Blackberry of iPhone, with the iPad, it is a different story. The iPad platform has more than enough screen real estate and resolution to build interesting media sharing and communication experiences. Off course we have choices, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Lenovo and almost everyone is working on one in addition to those who have products out there such as Amazon.

Microsoft’s Courier is an interesting one, currently in "late prototype" stage of development. At least they are not making the tablet mistake, the dual 7-inch screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. There is a camera at the back too (sorry Apple). Currently, Microsoft is working on the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies. Microsoft's tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we've seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD. And

Sony is doing some catch-up although they are stuck with their paradigm of competitive advanatage. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony is working on a device that's described as being part Netbook, part e-reader and part PlayStation Portable. Sources within the electronic giant also report that Sony is working on a "PlayStation Phone," which would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games. Sony needs help.

Global Ignite Week Kicked Off With Such Cool Energy. My Personal Best Is AfriGadget - A Grassroots Reporting Project On African Ingenuity.

The Global Ignite Week Toronto was such a stellar night last night and it was a pleasure to share the stage with so many cool people. Funny so many people asked me if I have practiced presenting given the format limitations, there was no practice for me. I think I've never done an Power Point practice for more than 15 years. I hardly gone through my slides once these days and typos is a problem for me. I guess I have always been a fast speaker. The people attending were all very cool from media to design and start-ups. The organizer Peter Horvath and Michele Perras did an amazing job. Good energy and I certainly recommend people to try the experience if you have not done so. There are so much creative energy in the place and everyone is eager to learn and share. And here are many IC folks there and many old friends exBlastees too.

The most interesting presentation for me personally is Steve Mugiri’s AfriGadget. He is a writer for a team blog AfriGadget that is about appropriate and ingenious application of tech in Africa. It is amazing how people use their imagination to create things with so little resources. Seeing people there bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges. We have seen enough the unfortunate side of Africa that is full of conflicts and sufferings. AfriGadget's objective is to find more stories of African ingenuity. The Grassroots Reporting Project is their plan to find, equip and train more AfriGadget reporters in the field throughout Africa. This is the CNN on Innovation in Africa!

Every time I think about challenges in Africa, I always think educational attainment, probably the important element in reducing poverty, has made some progress, especially at the primary level. But fewer than 75% of primary school-age children were enrolled in primary school in Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and several other African countries. African countries have made little progress getting children to advance to secondary school. For all of sub-Saharan Africa, the average net enrollment for secondary school is just 28%. We need to find more effective ways to deliver education. We cannot afford the continuous widening of the gap.

One cool example Steve included in his presentation was Alfred Sirleaf, he is a blogger but like the blogger in this part of the world. There is no computer or Internet access. Guess what, Alfred is an analog blogger. He runs the "Daily News," a news hut in the middle of Monrovia, the capital of a Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa. The lack of electricity or Internet connections doesn’t even faze him.

The lessons for us is we often resort to modern tools or solutions when we are dealing with a particular problem. The best example is we rely too much on pharmaceuticals, whatever the problem is; we’re too quick to reach for a pharmaceutical solutions. Same with technologies for enterprise usage, buy a big software package and your problems will be solved. Alfred serves, as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. How does it work? He has no funding, no Typepad, no Facebook and no computer or electricity. It is all about the ideas. The power of imagination and creativity at work.

He is a good recruiter, he uses creative ways to recruit people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 that read his blackboard daily. I think soon, he will be selling Google ads on his blog. Great site to check out. There are so many good stories. Another good one from the blog is the hacking culture in Africa. I think we do it for fun and they do it for necessity.

One post from Erik Hersman talked about the FLAP bag project, a collaborative effort by Timbuk2, Portable Light and Pop!Tech. Those folks ar AfriGadget are helping to field-test the bags that they designed have solar power and lighting on them, and get interviews of the individuals using them. Then they asked them if they could make something from their own materials, with their own designs, from it. Three days later they returned with some new designs. The local cloth use in Ghana was pretty and I think they can sell well at Best Buy.

HCI (Human-Computer Interactions) Needs To Cope With Rapidly Emerging Computing Paradigms. Today It Is A Little Cognitive Science And AI, A Lot Of Anthropology And Social Psychology.

Industry (aerospace, telecom, defence, automotive, consumer electronics, etc.) has developed a growing interest in Human-Computer Interaction, as powerful and numerous features do not ensure a successful product at all without a clear usage understanding by their target users. HCI (Human‐Computer Interaction) is a fascinating discipline; the field has its origin in the 80s primarily in computer science and cognitive psychology. Today it exists in a confluence with design as a discipline that owes to traditions including human factors, industrial design, architecture, information design and graphic design. HCI contains a number of semi-distinct fields of research and practices in human-centered informatics. One example is the Sixthsense from the MIT Media Lab. An augmented reality (AR) project, that aims to seamlessly integrate digital information with our everyday physical world. A very cool HCI concept, your hands movements are the interfaces.

HCI is about people, interactions and system interfaces.. First, people do what people are good at, such as observation, interpreting, determining what is important, and making the final decisions. There are situations human decisions need to be assisted by data visualizations. Second, computer does what it is good at, which is repetitive tasks and routine. Third, collectively people will make better decisions or influence each other on their decisions. But neither people (individual or communities) nor computers are forced to do what the other does better. HCI is to integrate the two so they can compliment each other to achieve more productivity.

There are quite a few challenges in applying universal design in the context of HCI in order to provide the formative insight needed to design interactive products that can be experienced by the mass in different contexts. The distinctive characteristics of these products may be identified by briefly considering the changes in the socio-technical paradigm, from the early days of computing to the 21st century human interfaces intended to provide a gateway into the world of distributed information paradigm, the scope and context of use of the computer (hard to define what a computer is these days, what is the computing power needed in order to be called a computer), as it becomes a mediating tool for increasing different types of human (both business and personal) activities.

In another short 5-10 years, mini computing devices will be everywhere as medical and consumer devices becoming mass. While HCI is still in its infancy, some HCI practitioners are trying to break away from common conception of an “average” user interacting with a laptop in the office to get work done, and to engage in a conscious effort to develop new understanding, methodologies and tools, in order to understand the following:

1. How emerging new distributed computational paradigms will create new challenges for HCI designs? How do we research behavior that does not exist today?
2. How new interaction /interface design can be effectively used to serve an increasing range of system-mediated human activities?
3. When does interactions / interface design cross the line and becoming service design? Interactive artifacts are now being introduced into service settings in a larger degree?
4. How new visceral interactions that driven by interactive paradigms rather than user needs emerge, beyond the imagination of the novice users?
5. What are the emerging threats to privacy that force us to rethink some fundamental concepts in HCI when attackers, ranging from the curious to the highly malicious, might abuse or subvert the system?

Is Best Buy Ready To ReInvent Big Box Retailing? Or Are They Too Busy Thinking About Competing With Wal-Mart And Amazon?

There is a Business Week article about how Best Buy is now flexing its market power to help manufacturers and brand owners to develop more marketable products. As the last standing consumer electronic retailers, now they don’t have much direct competition, but instead will be competing with two of the most hyper-efficient retail systems on earth – Walmart and Amazon. 

Best Buy’s CEO Dunn has a vision and ambitious plans to play this game. The big box retailer business model needs reinvention and there is not enough value from selling LCD TVs and PCs. Best Buy needs to be the gatekeeper or tastemaker of consumer electronics. They need to turn their retail stores into giant consumer labs. That way they can shape, influence and even participate in development of new product and service platforms. It makes sense that the big consumer electronics companies won’t like the idea. They want to see the retailers to be reduced to just a distribution channel with little market power. That is not going to happen. 

Best Buy will continue experimenting new ways to engage and enlighten consumers and grow its influences along the way. The big box retailer has optimized their format over the years by using clustering instead of standardized format. It has revamped hundred of stores, introducing "customer-centric" formats to appeal to local shoppers. Can Best Buy reinvent retail economics just as Apple did? Apple retail miracles have proved to be exportable. They broke every rule of retail economics.

Apple's Regent Street store (London) has become a tourist attraction in its own right. Most important it takes £2,000 per square foot. Compare to high-end department store such as Harrods or Harvey Nicols which is making about £700-£750 per square foot, while Topshop in Oxford Circus takes about £1,000 per square foot. Other high traffic electrical retailers average about £700 per square foot. 

The most interesting thing about Best Buy’s strategy is the digital service platform; this one is not as easy. Blockbuster has gone down that path quite unsuccessfully. Best Buy bought online music service Napster a year ago and then took a stake in CinemaNow, Sonic Solution's movie-streaming service. I think they need a lot of more thinking to play in this complex landscape with Apple and Sony seeing this as their core. Thais is what Kai Patel, Best Buy EVP for emerging business is thinking all the time. Wal-Mart and Amazon has a slight cost advantage over Best Buy. Adding Costco and many other online retailers. Best Buy can never compete purely on cost. Best Buy has no choice but to rethink what unique differentiated customer experience can help transform Best Buy with its 1,000 plus stores. 

What innovative new services that can create high margin revenue stream? What digital platforms they can effective build and effectively compete? What are the top three strategic partners (you've to pick your friends)? What is Best Buy new role in supporting product development? If Best Buy is a consumer electronics middle ware, what would they do? Can Best Buy effectively serve the unmet needs of small/medium businesses? What's Best Buy strategy for connective health care? What are the strategic options for redesigning and reinvention of current format? And does Best Buy needs a cool brand like Apple that separates the store from the products? It is probably easier to design a cooler brand than making Best Buy cool.I can go on and on. In the age of rampant consumerism – desire-driven market – Best Buy has a lot of rethinking to do.

The Evolution Of The ATMs. 30 Years Later Still Struggling To Make Them Scam Proof. It Is All About The Human Factors.

I find that people are over-concerned with online security every time there is a piece of news about identity theft on TV. It is really not that bad and we need to accept the fact that it will not go away. Whatever security mechanism being put can fix one hole but usually create another hole. Let me take the example of the ATM, it is a very mature technology (probably about 30 years). Not many people know the first mechanical cash dispenser was developed and built by Luther George Simjian and installed in 1939 in New York City by the City Bank of New York, but removed after 6 months due to the lack of customer acceptance. No customer wanted to get money from a machine. It was a failed innovation.

I remember the one ATM card (Standard Chartered Bank) I used, every time I used it the machine will eat the card and mail it back to me. Not sure what security reason caused the design. So I can only used it once until they send it back in 2 days. It is designed to prevent fraud.

30 years later, there are still many ATM scams. Japan is still trying to figure out a way to stamp out ATM frauds. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, I am not sure what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile. I think there is too many cases criminals instruct victims to withdraw cash from the ATM through the cell phone. The often target the elderly, often telephoned by perpetrators claiming to be relatives and in need of some emergency funds. A new innovation is Aichi Bank is now ATMs will now no longer allow consumers to complete the transaction until they hang up. So you cannot be talking to your friends while getting your money.

How it works? A metallic film around the ATM will block access if it detects mobile phone waves. Essentially ATMs will become out of range for mobiles. Not only might this prevent the criminals from relating their information, it also helps to provide a break for the consumer to think carefully about the transaction.

While others are jamming cell phones, BT Broadband is converting 2,500 ATM machines to serve as free Wi-Fi hotspots. And for some places like Tibet, people are blessed (literally) with money with their ATM withdrawals. A relatively new addition to Lhasa's old city urban infrastructure an ATM machine - including the red pasted duilian - effectively blessing every transaction that passes through this machine. It is a way to making money clean (legally). Here's another real customer unmet need. (Photo courtesy of Chip Chase)

All Nippon Latest Innovation - Pre-Boarding Toilet Monitors

Can design change the world? Or at least let’s try to change healthcare. Or shall we start with our education system?  There are plenty to change and no shortage of ideas. Do we need more new and cool products? Or we just need products that last? Or products that that are cheap to repair and not throwaways that are costing our environment? We will still be dealing with the problems case by the last 50 years of accelerated industrialization and electronics are the worst.

For me, I really wish I could redesign air travel experiences. It is so bad today. They are like flying prisons except they don’t give you the orange uniform (I like the old black and white ones than the orange one, not sure why they change it). Cost savings measures are making the experience ridiculous. Here is one good example. Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (below photo of myself flying All Nippon) has started asking passengers to make use of the toilet prior to boarding in a bid to reduce aircraft weight.

The airline has announced that “toilet monitors” would be located by the boarding gates in departure lounges to ask waiting passengers to relieve themselves before boarding the aircraft. The airline is under the belief that empty bladders will equate to lighter passengers, which will ultimately mean lighter aircraft and fuel savings. They started the policy this month (as an experiment) and hope to achieve a reduction of five-tons in carbon emissions over one month. The question for passengers is what if you don’t? I guess they can charge you for the weight you drop or if you are a Start Alliance gold, you will get an allowance for that. This is so crazy.

The best-loved engineering design projects of the century must be the Concord (1976-2003) and that’s a rare example of successful international collaboration. Its Anglo-French designers produced the world’s first supersonic commercial passenger aircraft which at its fastest flew from NY to London in less than 3 hours. How I wish if that was popularized and we can fly from New York to Shanghai in 6 hours.

Concord, exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Routinely flying faster than twice the speed of sound with a take-off speed of 250 mph (400 kmph) and a cruising speed of 1,350 mph (2,160 kmph) at an altitude of up to 60,000 feet, twice the height of Mount Everest. At its fastest on 7 Feb 1996, Concorde flew from New York to London in just 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. It takes me longer than that to get from mid-town to LaGuardia.

I travel almost every week and I just hate the idea of being cramped in an airplane. The design of airplane assumes people are cargo. Well actually they are designed like a bus, that’s why some are called Airbus. When most frequent travelers are for business, air-craft manufacturers and airlines need to rethink to make cabins double as mobile offices and provide email and Internet access. Since the 70s, Boeing's 747 (seating capacity of 524) has dominated the aircraft market. They are more comfortable that previous design. In the 90s Airbus began development of the double-decker A380, designed to give 50% more floor space than the next largest airliner (capacity increases to 800 passengers).  So how do we redesign the aircraft experience? To start with, we need think office, theater or even casinos or pub.